1984 by George Orwell: Orwell Expert Book Review

Book Reviews gives readers an efficient way to quickly go through and digest famous and well-loved titles. Offering easy-to-read and comprehensive synopses of every chapter of bestselling books, each Brainy Book Review highlights the key ideas behind critically acclaimed titles, helping readers swiftly get the most out of a book.

1984: New Classic Edition

George Orwell depicts a gray, totalitarian world dominated by Big Brother and its vast network of agents, including the Thought Police - a world in which news is manufactured according to the authorities' will and people live tepid lives by rote. Winston Smith, a hero with no heroic qualities, longs only for truth and decency. But living in a social system in which privacy does not exist and where those with unorthodox ideas are brainwashed or put to death, he knows there is no hope for him.

Animal Farm [Dramatised]

Animal Farm - the history of a revolution that went wrong - is George Orwell's brilliant satire on the corrupting influence of power. Mr Jones of Manor Farm is so lazy and drunken that one day he forgets to feed his livestock. The ensuing rebellion under the leadership of the pigs Napoleon and Snowball leads to the animals taking over the farm. Vowing to eliminate the terrible inequities of the farmyard, the renamed Animal Farm is organised to benefit all who walk on four legs. But as time passes, the ideals of the rebellion are corrupted, then forgotten. And something new and unexpected emerges....

Animal Farm

George Orwell's classic satire of the Russian Revolution is an intimate part of our contemporary culture, quoted so often that we tend to forget who wrote the original words! This must-read is also a must-listen!

Crime and Punishment: CliffsNotes

The CliffsNotes study guide on Fyodor Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment supplements the original literary work, giving you background information about the author, an introduction to the work, a graphical character map, critical commentaries, expanded glossaries, and a comprehensive index, all for you to use as an educational tool that will allow you to better understand the work. This study guide was written with the assumption that you have read Crime and Punishment.

Brave New World

When Lenina and Bernard visit a savage reservation, we experience how Utopia can destroy humanity.

Cloning, feel-good drugs, anti-aging programs, and total social control through politics, programming, and media: has Aldous Huxley accurately predicted our future? With a storyteller's genius, he weaves these ethical controversies in a compelling narrative that dawns in the year 632 A.F. (After Ford, the deity). When Lenina and Bernard visit a savage reservation, we experience how Utopia can destroy humanity.

Fahrenheit 451

Guy Montag is a fireman. In his world, where television rules and literature is on the brink of extinction, firemen start fires rather than put them out. His job is to destroy the most illegal of commodities, the printed book, along with the houses in which they are hidden. Montag never questions the destruction and ruin his actions produce, returning each day to his bland life and wife, Mildred, who spends all day with her television "family."

Astrophysics for People in a Hurry

What is the nature of space and time? How do we fit within the universe? How does the universe fit within us? There's no better guide through these mind-expanding questions than acclaimed astrophysicist and best-selling author Neil deGrasse Tyson. But today, few of us have time to contemplate the cosmos. So Tyson brings the universe down to Earth succinctly and clearly, with sparkling wit, in digestible chapters consumable anytime and anywhere in your busy day.

The Handmaid's Tale: Special Edition

After a violent coup in the United States overthrows the Constitution and ushers in a new government regime, the Republic of Gilead imposes subservient roles on all women. Offred, now a Handmaid tasked with the singular role of procreation in the childless household of the enigmatic Commander and his bitter wife, can remember a time when she lived with her husband and daughter and had a job, before she lost everything, even her own name.

The Divine Comedy: Inferno; Purgatorio; Paradiso

Blake Ritson, David Warner, Hattie Morahan and John Hurt star in this BBC Radio 4 dramatisation of Dante's epic poem. Inferno: Thirty-five year old Dante finds himself in the middle of a dark wood, in extreme personal and spiritual crisis. Hope of rescue appears in the form of the venerable poet Virgil, now a shade himself, who offers to lead Dante on an odyssey through the afterlife, beginning in the terrifying depths of Hell.

David Copperfield (Dramatised)

David Copperfield is the story of a boy growing to maturity in the affairs of the world and of the heart, surrounded by some of Dickens' most memorable characters: David's eccentric great-aunt, Miss Betsey Trotwood; the ever-optimistic Mr Micawber; jolly Peggotty and her willing husband Barkis; the charming Steerforth; the ever so 'umble Uriah Heep; and the foolishly innocent Dora. But will David finally find happiness with the faithful Agnes Wickfield, whom he has known since childhood?

It Can't Happen Here

Doremus Jessup, a newspaper editor, is dismayed to find that many of the people he knows support presidential candidate Berzelius Windrip. The suspiciously fascist Windrip is offering to save the nation from sex, crime, welfare cheats, and a liberal press. But after Windrip wins the election, dissent soon becomes dangerous for Jessup. Windrip forcibly gains control of Congress and the Supreme Court and, with the aid of his personal paramilitary storm troopers, turns the United States into a totalitarian state.

In Search of Lost Time (Dramatized)

Featuring a fictional version of himself - 'Marcel' - and a host of friends, acquaintances, and lovers, In Search of Lost Time is Proust's search for the key to the mysteries of memory, time, and consciousness. As he recalls his childhood days, the sad affair of Charles Swann and Odette de Crecy, his transition to manhood, the tortures of love and the ravages of war, he realises that the simplest of discoveries can lead to astonishing possibilities.

The United States and Russia are closer to war right now than we have been at any point in history. According to Vladimir Putin - as well as numerous international experts - a global nuclear showdown is becoming increasingly likely. A lack of cooperation between the US and Russia in safeguarding nuclear materials is also increasing the risk of terrorists like ISIS conducting a dirty bomb attack in Europe.

Publisher's Summary

Winston Smith works for the Ministry of Truth in London, chief city of Airstrip One. Big Brother stares out from every poster and the Thought Police uncover each act of betrayal. When Winston finds love with Julia, he discovers that life does not have to be dull and deadening and awakens to new possibilities. Despite the police helicopters that hover and circle overhead, Winston and Julia begin to question the Party.

Yet Big Brother will not tolerate dissent - even in the mind. For those with original thoughts they invented Room 101....

Nineteen Eighty-Four is George Orwell's terrifying vision of a totalitarian future in which everything and everyone is slave to a tyrannical regime. Christopher Eccleston, Tim Pigott-Smith and Pippa Nixon star in this new drama, part of BBC Radio 4's The Real George Orwell season - a Radio 4 journey that explores the disjuncture between the man who was Eric Blair and the writer who was George Orwell.

For a dramatized piece, the iDisk issues arose - sound was hard to hear in some areas.It was ok however I think the story is a little too unrealistic - other big brother stories are a bit better, but as a classic, worth the listen.

I am sure had I looked harder before downloading I would have realised this is not the book but a dramatisation. The length of just under 2 hours should have given it away. Nonetheless it proved a good listen whilst mowing the lawn!

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

keith

bracknell, United Kingdom

4/8/13

Overall

"1984 Revisited"

I first read 1984 as a young man at school and found a chilling and frightening portent of one man's fight against authority and the Government. Having lived through 1984 and seen how close George Orwell was his with his vision of a post-war Britain and world conflicts, it was sobering to see how life and personal attitudes have developed in modern society reflecting the book. A scary re-read.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Saul

Manchester UK

3/25/16

Overall

Performance

Story

"Very 'thought' provoking"

I loved this dramatisation...kept me on the edge of my seat...fantastic performances. Have been meaning to read the book for years but as a result of this audio drama, I'll now be ordering the book. Highly recommend 😃

0 of 0 people found this review helpful

Andrew J Nolan

2/12/16

Overall

Performance

Story

"Enjoyable but dark"

This BBC drama is well acted. The cast fit their roles. The story is very thought provoking.

0 of 0 people found this review helpful

Lizzie

10/29/15

Overall

"How this reflects the current times we live in"

A wonderfully dramatised BBC production. I will listen to this again and again. Definitely a classic that sums up the times we live in.

0 of 0 people found this review helpful

Reginald pelle

Winchester, UK

10/4/15

Overall

Performance

Story

"Exciting!"

Full of drama, suspense and dark happenings. A good adaption of a popular novel. Worth a listen!

0 of 0 people found this review helpful

toveyc1

1/23/15

Overall

Performance

Story

"More BBC goodness"

This was a fantastic production to listen to. Great casting, pace and story. This has really brought the subject matter off the page and burned into my mind. Well worth purchasing.

0 of 0 people found this review helpful

mrs

BRIGHTON, United Kingdom

4/29/13

Overall

"Poor audio quality"

Unfortunately I spent the whole two hours constanty adjusting the volume and bass on this recording. The sound effects drown the script, which is mostly too loud and distorted or too quiet and muffled. Shame , because I think that the dramatisation itself was probably good. I am a sound engineer, so I am aware how to adjust the levels. I still couldn't understand it. Waste of a credit.

1 of 2 people found this review helpful

Report Inappropriate Content

If you find this review inappropriate and think it should be removed from our site, let us know. This report will be reviewed by Audible and we will take appropriate action.